Photo: Universal Music Enterprises
R.E.M.'s debut EP Chronic Town celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and to celebrate, members Peter Buck and Mike Mills reunited in their hometown of Athens, Georgia, for a star-studded tribute to the album hosted by comedian David Cross. They played with a house band that boasted The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson and Sven Pipien, and Screaming Trees’ Barrett Martin.
Though Michael Stipe was not in attendance, the night featured performances from the likes of Fred Armisen, Hootie & the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, Patti Smith Group’s Lenny Kaye, Indigo Girls, Robinson’s son Quinn, Drivin N Cryin’s Kevn Kinney, actor/director John Cameron Mitchell, singer-songwriter David Ryan Harris, and Zac Brown Band’s John Driskell Hopkins.
The event may have been billed as a tribute to Chronic Town; however, the setlist featured songs spanning R.E.M.'s catalog. Mitchell performed "Wolves, Lower," "Stumble," and "Low"; Armisen sang "Gardening at Night"; Elf Power performed "Little America," "Begin the Begin," and "There She Goes Again"; The Pylon Reenactment Society performed their song "Crazy" (which R.E.M. covered), along with R.E.M.'s "Crush With Eyeliner" and Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song"; Mitch Easter sang "1,000,000"; Kinney sang "Fall on Me" and "King of Birds"; Rucker sang "I Believe" and "World Leader Pretend"; Indigo Girls performed "Orange Crush"; Kaye did "Superman"; and Mike Mills sang on a cover of Big Star's "September Gurls."
To any fans who think this could be the first step toward a full-blown R.E.M. reunion, Stipe unfortunately shot that down last year, saying: “We will never reunite. We decided when we split up that that would just be really tacky and probably money-grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together."
For now, relish in the semi-reunion/celebration by watching fan-shot footage from the Chronic Town event below.